1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (PDP). In particular, the present invention relates to a method for forming ribs in the PDP.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a variety of flat panel displays, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a plasma display panel (PDP) have been intensively developed to replace cathode ray tube (CRT) displays. In PDP technololgy, an ultraviolet light is emitted to excite the RBG phosphors for producing visible lights. The advantages of the PDP include a large display area, wide viewing angle, and intense brightness.
Usually, a PDP includes a front plate and a rear plate, the rear plate is spaced a distance to the front plate and sealed with the front plate. A plurality of barrier ribs are formed in parallel on the rear plate of the PDP. These barrier ribs are used to define a plurality of discharge spaces, and prevent discharge coupling and color cross-talk between adjacent cells. The traditional method for forming the ribs is described hereafter with FIGS. 1A and 1B.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the address electrodes 12 are formed on the rear glass substrate 10. The dielectric layer 14 is further formed to cover the address electrodes 12. The rib material layer 18 is formed above the dielectric layer 14. The photoresist dry film is laminated on the rib material layer 18. After an exposure and development process, the photoresist dry film 20 is patterned as shown in FIG. 1A.
Referring to 1B, the photoresist dry film 20 is used as a mask in a sandblasting process, and the rib material layer 18 is patterned by the sandblasting process to form the ribs 18a. 
In the above-mentioned conventional method, the dielectric layer 14 under the rib material layer 18 can protect the address electrodes 12 from damaging in the sandblasting process. However, a high temperature sintering process is required after the dielectric layer 14 is printed on the substrate 10. The sintering step will lengthen the manufacturing time and affect the yield of the PDP. In addition, the height of the ribs 18a is about 100-200 xcexcm, so the sandblasting time is too long to keep the uniformity of the ribs 18a. Therefore, the discharging efficiency is decreased when these ribs lack uniform bottom width and the profile. A method for forming ribs of a plasma display panel is needed to solve the above-mentioned problems.
The present invention provides a method for fabricating ribs of a PDP, in which the top width, the bottom width, and the profile of the ribs can be effectively controlled, and a thermal step can be saved.
The present invention provides a method for forming ribs in a plasma display panel (PDP). The PDP includes a glass substrate, and a plurality of address electrodes are formed on the glass substrate. A dielectric layer is formed above the address electrodes and the glass substrate. A plurality of sandblasting stoppers are formed on the dielectric layer, and the positions of these stoppers are corresponded to that of the address electrodes. The rib material layer is further formed to cover the dielectric layer and the sandblasting stoppers, and then a plurality of sand-resists are patterned on the rib material layer. By using the sand-resists as a mask, a sandblasting process is executed to form a plurality of ribs and expose the sandblasting stoppers. After removing the sand-resists and the sandblasting stoppers, the structures of the ribs are fixed by a sinter process.